Easiest Air Popped Popcorn

We all know the story:  it’s 2:00pm, you’re starving, you need a healthy, filling snack.  Well as long as there’s a microwave around, you can make a giant, but somehow 100 calorie, sized portion of yummy popcorn in under 2 minutes.  Plus there’s no clean up.  Doesn’t get any easier than that!

Put 3 Tbsp of popcorn kernels in a brown paper lunch bag and fold it closed.  Nuke it for 1 1/2 minutes and sprinkle with a little salt.  Done!

*** Be careful to follow directions and not over cook or can catch on fire in your microwave

 

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Buddha Bowl

While I love cooking, I typically don’t want to spend my whole day doing it.  I think that’s why so many people have gotten into meal prepping:  cook on Sunday and eat for the whole week.  I love the concept, especially when you have a busy week ahead of you, but I don’t want to eat the same thing every day!  Enter the Buddha Bowl.  

The recipe here is portioned for one serving, but you definitely don’t want to do all of this cooking for just one meal.  Lately, I’ve been cooking lots of quinoa, lentils, and vegetables and storing them away to build whatever kind of lunch I want that day.  Indian spiced lentils with spinach, caramelized onions, and sweet potato?  Quinoa with taco seasoning and grilled chicken, avocado, cherry tomatoes, and black beans?  The combinations are endless and perfectly accommodating to any and all leftovers that are hanging around the fridge.  Just make sure to add protein (both lentils and quinoa have tons of this!), lots of veggies, and any seasonings you want.

Sweet Potato Quinoa Buddha Bowl

-1/2 sweet potato

-1 c cooked quinoa

-1/4 of an avocado

-2 c kale, chopped

-1/2 tsp coconut oil

-1/4 of a roasted chicken breast

-1/4 c roasted chickpeas*

-sliced red onion

-cilantro

-salt, pepper, nutritional yeast, and red pepper flakes to taste

Roast your sweet potato at 400º for about 50 minutes to an hour or until it’s very soft.  (You can make this and the chickpeas at the same time)  Next add the kale and coconut oil to a pan with a little salt and pepper and cook until wilted.  Finally just add everything to a bowl and season to taste.

*For the roasted chickpeas, drain, rinse, and pat dry 1 can of chickpeas.  Then put them on a baking sheet with 1 tsp of coconut oil and a few dashes of cayenne pepper, cumin, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  Bake them at 400º for 40 to 50 minutes, shaking every 15 minutes or so.  You want them to get very crunchy–usually a couple of mine burn while this is happening, but they taste great too!  These are one of my all time favorite snacks, so I usually make a couple of cans at a time.

Creamy Green Smoothie Bowl

If you are on Instagram, you have surely seen millions of perfectly staged pictures of smoothie bowls.  Never once did the thought of pouring my smoothie into a cereal bowl and eating it with a spoon appeal to me.  Just drink it like a normal person!  But finally I realized a few good things about the bowl concept.  First, you can arguably make a lot more of the smoothie–never a bad thing in my book.  You can also put lots of crunchy, delicious toppings on it, making it feel like more of a meal than just a drink on the go.  This morning I decided to take the leap.  I made one of my favorite smoothie combos slightly thicker than usual and loaded on the toppings.  The result?  Absolutely delicious.  I’m a believer.

Creamy Green Smoothie Bowl

-1 c kale (or spinach)

-1/2 avocado

-1/2 banana

-spoonful of peanut butter

-squeeze of honey

-1/2 c to 1 c almond milk

-toppings: shredded coconut, crushed plantain chips, toasted almonds (or anything you like)

Blend everything but the toppings and pour it in a bowl.  Place the toppings on–arranged in lines, obviously for Insta. 😉

 

Game Day Potato Skins

Despite the fact that I’m not a huge football fan, I always look forward to Superbowl Sunday.  Why, you might ask?  Because it’s the perfect excuse to make insanely delicious and over the top snacks.  I’ve made this recipe dairy free by using caramelized onions for the creamy factor.  This is one of my favorite tricks when making a recipe that calls for cheese (caramelized onion pizza, anyone?!).  Feel free to add a little cheese on top of yours too–they are great either way.  So while I may only be tuning in for the halftime show, I’m definitely going to be enjoying these potato skins!

• Bake, scoop, and broil potatoes

 

• Caramelize onions

• Cover with toppings

 

Potato Skins

-4 small russet potatoes

-1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

-8 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled

-4 green onions, chopped

-1/2 tsp sugar

-3 Tbsp olive oil, separated

-salt and pepper

Bake the potatoes in a 400º oven for about an hour or until they are fork tender.  While the potatoes are baking, work on the caramelized onions.

To caramelize onions add a Tbsp of olive oil to a pan over medium high heat and add the onions.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until you just start to see a little color on them.  Turn the heat down to medium low and continue cooking.  Add the sugar and season with salt.  The sugar will help them get extra caramely.  If the onions start to look a little dry, just add a splash or two of water and keep on cooking!  You’ll know they’re done when they’ve developed a deep golden color and are extremely soft. This process takes about 15-20 minutes.

When the potatoes are finished cooking, let them cool slightly before cutting in half and scooping out the middle.  Feel free to use this for mashed potatoes!  Coat both sides of the potato skins with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Place on a baking sheet skin side up and broil (do not broil on the closet rack to the top!) for about 3-4 minutes or until the skin is very crispy.  Flip the potatoes over and broil for another 4-5 minutes until the inside is light brown.

Then top with your caramelized onions, bacon, and green onions.  Put back in the oven for just up to 5 minutes on 375 or just until the toppings are nice and warm.  Enjoy!

Zucchini with Lemon and Walnuts

I can’t tell you how much I love this “recipe.”  Honestly this had barely made it to the plate before I was tucking into it.  It’s a classic Italian veggie dish that is definitely a crowd-pleaser… Plus it’s gorgeous and takes five minutes to make–chop, plate, enjoy!  This is about to be one of the dishes you’ll make every week.

-2 small zucchinis

-juice of 1/2 of a lemon

-1/4 c walnuts, roasted and chopped

-1 Tbsp olive oil

-salt and pepper to taste

Cut off the ends of the zucchinis and slice them paper thin–I like using my mandolin for this part.  Arrange the ribbons of zucchini on a platter, squeeze the lemon juice over, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and finish with the walnuts.  Wasn’t that fast?!  Enjoy!